alt Hacker NewsI think we're both thinking of different examples and drawing wider conclusions. I'm thinking of a company losing the data that makes it money, you're thinking of losing the customer data and thus their trust. Probably equally valid points of view.
The lack of ethics hugely contributes to companies collecting more and more user data that they normally shouldn't have. This makes the data a more attractive target.
> If your point were true, we’d see fewer breaches.
But this doesn't follow. There are way more factors at play that influence the number of attacks and the number of successes. Companies hold more and more data with ever higher value (so more liability), and hacking tools and hacker determination advanced faster than defensive measures. The result is expected and the solution isn't only "more security", but also "hold less data".
While security is a double edged sword, ethics had been proven to be very single edged. History shows that for startups and large companies alike, the lack of ethics is actually a competitive advantage for the company.
> I think we're both thinking of different examples and drawing wider conclusions. I'm thinking of a company losing the data that makes it money, you're thinking of losing the customer data and thus their trust. Probably equally valid points of view.
But in most businesses, the data that makes the company money is the customer data. And even when it isn’t, the customer data is just as, if not more so, important to keep secure and compliant. So my point stands.
HN can sometimes be a bit of an echo chamber where people are like us just assume that organisations inherently care about security because we do. But that’s not always the de facto. Getting to that point takes company wide effort. And I’ve been that person who’s had to push for such changes to the organisation.
> But this doesn't follow.
Fair point. I was being overly reductive.